Senate Jobs Bill Skips Unemployment Benefits Extension

[Techn0Girl]

Source: Open Congress (via Washington Post)

Unemployment insurance benefits, which have been a perennial hot issue with OpenCongress users, will not be extended under the jobs bill that Senate Democrats are writing.

The House passed a jobs bill in December (H.R. 2847) that included a six-month UI benefit and COBRA health care subsidy extension among other things.

The companion bill that the Senate is working will be significantly pared down, according to a report from the Washington Post on a draft version that is being circulated on the Hill today. While the House bill would cost $155 billion, the Senate bill is expected to cost about $80 billion and be entirely funded by unused financial bailout money. According to the reports, two will be heavy on tax incentives for small businesses that hire new employees, money for infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, and funds to help state governments keep public employees like police and firefighters on the payroll.

Read more: http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1490-Senate-Jobs-Bill-Skips-Unemployment-Benefits-Extension

---

You heard that right.

MORE tax breaks to business so that jobs might "trickle down" to you and not a GOD-DAMNED CENT to keep you insured, your families fed, or you out of a homeless shelter.

NO unemployment extensions even though joblessness is higher than ever. The House proposed a 6 month extension of benefits last December. It looks like the Senate has shot that down.

edit
In 30 days all States unemployment benefits will revert back to 26 weeks and anyone unemployed longer than 6 months will have no recourse for themselves and heir families other than food stamps or welfare which pay a fraction of what unemployment pays.
end edit

How you you feel about this?

[OhioChick]

1. Nothing surprises me anymore. n/t

[Autumn]

2. Why am I not surprised?

How do I feel about it? Those people fucking suck. Dirty rat Bastards.

[damntexdem]

42. Now, now -- they're just representing their true constituency.

What did you think that was -- the American people? ;-)

[tonysam]

3. Time to let these "Democrats" know how we feel. n/t

[Nite Owl]

10. They know

they just don't care. They think we are despensible and stupid enough to go for the perennial 'vote for us the other side is worse'.

[dotymed]

72. Is this, needing UI extensions,

just another "pony" that we are whining about? We ALL know it and our Constitution says it. It is (past) time for a new government. I am sure this will cost me another strike on the government watch list. Truth is Truth. If only the elected Democrats, who are truly Progressives, would switch from the Democratic party and switch to a newly created Progressive party.....the people would support and elect them even against this new SCOTUS open market campaigning...

[tridim]

4. I just got my Federal unemployment extention.

20 weeks.

Thank fucking gawd.

[endless october]

5. i think it's way past time to try "trickle up" instead.

trickle down doesn't work.

[NightWatcher]

6. I'm having a hell of a time getting my regular benefits, for get extensions

I'm on the phone an hour or two a day, sending dozens of emails, and no one seems to know what the hell is going on. They refuse to assign a single case manager who would be familiar with my case, nor do they seem able to place notes on my account that let the next person see what the last person said or did.

[Hoopla Phil]

7. What the fuck! We do still have a majority in the Senate right? Why the

Hell are they acting like the rupukes own the Senate??!!!

[fascisthunter]

17. because they agree with the pukes evidently

yet they tell us they don't.

[FiveGoodMen]

22. WE do not have any representation in the Senate

The party you're thinking of has become an auxiliary of the pukes while retaining its traditional name for whatever votes that will still bring in.

[CrispyQ]

65. That is a very accurate assessment of the Democratic party.

"...while retaining its traditional name for whatever votes that will still bring in."

Sad, but accurate.

[mzmolly]

8. The tax credits are specifically geared toward hiring. It's not trickle down theory

in this case.

[No Elephants]

62. We're still using tax money to help corporations get richer. Providing a federal job would be less

trickle down than this.

Roosevelt gave us the model on this, on regulation and on so many other things.

We have purposefully been ignoring a lot of our history, what worked best, how it worked, what did not work, etc.

[Abq_Sarah]

85. They're not going to spur employment

The new hire tax credit and the retention tax credit are a nice little benefit if your company is making money and you already have the income and need to hire new workers. This won't result in increased employment.

Would it kill them to actually ask small business owners for their input instead of gearing this crap towards large companies?

[tonysam]

9. Further down the article it says this

The Post reports that am unemployment benefits extension like the one the House included in their jobs bill “may move in the chamber separately.”

The operative word is "may." Let's hope they don't dawdle around like they did last October.

Washington Post link

[mzmolly]

12. Or it may be included

in some fashion I presume? This does not mean there will be no extension.

[tonysam]

15. Exactly. The two houses will likely reconcile any bill anyway.

n/t

[Techn0Girl]

26. THe two Houses will likely reconcile any bill anyway ????

Right...because that worked so well with health care reform.

(btw those pom-poms look fabulous on you. Can I borrow one? )

[tonysam]

27. You were the poster, as I recall, who didn't think

people like me would qualify for the Tier III extension because of a snafu regarding the December 31 date. By the way, I could and do qualify for Tier III regardless plus the seven weeks' extension on STATE benefits.

Just so you know.

[Techn0Girl]

18. The audacity of hope.....

By rejecting the House Bill that did include extension benefits AND proposing this new bill which does not - the Senate is sending a clear message about whether they want such benefits passed.

I believe some 100+ Democrats are coming up for re-election this November. What do you think their chances will be when the Senate kills unempoyment extensions AND gives more tax breaks to businesses?

Not to mention the '12 election ...

[tonysam]

35. I want to know why you are making shit up

The article doesn't say what you claim it says, and you are also spreading GARBAGE about the extensions.

All extensions DON'T run out in February. Where the fuck do you get your information?

From Nevada's DETR site:

I received a letter to file for State Extended Benefits (SEB), will this new
extension take the place of SEB or do I still file for SEB first?

SEB claims that do not have at least one week of benefits claimed prior to the beginning of EUC
Tier III claim filing, will be discontinued and Tier III benefits added to the EUC claim. Claimants in
this category will be notified, and instructed to file by Quick Claim or Internet. There should be
no delay in filing or payments. Once the EUC benefits exhaust the claimant will go back to SEB if
the state is still in a high unemployment category and paying state extended benefits.
If you have claimed more than one week on your SEB claim, you will continue to file your SEB
claim and remain on SEB claim until the claim is exhausted. At that point, if you are still
unemployed and do not qualify for a new regular Unemployment Insurance claim, then you may
be entitled to reopen your Emergency Unemployment TIER III claim and receive the additional
benefits.

Extending benefits means exactly that. It has nothing to do with people currently on UI. The current maximum is 99 weeks for both state and federal. What is being proposed in the House is adding 26 more weeks to the 99 weeks.

I will believe the state of Nevada employment division before I will believe ONE WORD you say.

It sounds like a lot of weeks, but it's BAD out here.

[Techn0Girl]

39. We went through this last time and I am not going to do it again....

All extensions expire in one month.
One month from now no one will be able to apply for another extension.

Your seemingly random cut and paste from the Nevada EDD is not in context.
I'm going to place you on ignore now because I am not going to repeat what happened last time where you were unable to grasp what was going on.

Good luck to you.

[Hoopla Phil]

46. "All extensions expire in one month" This is the first I've heard of this.

Could you please cite, or preferably link to, where this is posted from an official source?

Thank you.

[Techn0Girl]

49. This has been news since early October - See my post further down entitled "No problemo"....

And of course the best thing to do is simply google up the news for yourself by simply googling "unemployment extension" .

[DJ13]

11. How often can the people get betrayed by these politicians

before the people wise up?

[TheWatcher]

82. Many of them can't.

Just listen to some of the cheerleaders in this thread.

They just can't and won't allow themselves to get it.

You can only willfully ignore this stuff for so long, before you succumb to the mental illness that comes along with consistent, willful, and relentless denial.


They just ignore everything they see that interferes with the false paradigm that they believe in or spin it in a way that fits it.

Whenever anyone posts facts or anything that refutes their cheerleading, they either go silent or resort to the same tired memes and personal attacks that we see day after day.

There are many people on DU and throughout this country who have simply become so delusional in their denial and wedded to their spin of reality that they are no longer reachable.

At some point you have to simply give up on them. No amount of facts, truth, or revelation is ever going to convince them. They have become as terminal and rabid in their denial and indifference as the foolish followers of the last dictatorship were. And to think that for eight years they held hands with everyone else in defiance of tyranny, only to succumb to whatever hypnosis those who held hands with same said tyranny were under.

It's very sad, and very frightening.

I can only hope that those who are awake will find away to stay informed, and try to awaken those who are still able to look at things with better eyes, so that the very least they can adapt to what they see, and eventually, hopefully figure out a way to guide us out of it, and somehow take the country back. I am beginning to realize it probably won't happen in my lifetime, but eventually, it WILL.

Tonight there was a "Grand Speech", and The Great Hypnosis seems to be back in full force.

Why do we keep falling for this every time?

I don't know.

Perhaps we have just become a population that is so heavily medicated, weak, and ensconced in a Stockholm like mesmerization, that we cannot fight back, even if we want to.

Mike Judge warned us in Idiocracy.

Maybe he was too late.

I STILL am not going to give into that notion, though.

The amount of Red Pill People VS. Blue Pill People is not encouraging math or odds at this point.

Then again, The Rebels had no mathematical chance against the Death Star either.

That's why you never give up. :)

RESIST.

The Answer To 1984 Is 1776

[JackintheGreen]

13. Gosh, as I just read in Newsweek

if you subsidize something, you get more of it. Thus, more unemployment protections will necessarily garner more unemployment. See, people are lazy, and they won't work if the government subsidizes their *not* working.

Right? :crazy:

[dgibby]

21. Who wrote that? Andre Bauer? nt

[fasttense]

64. Just like in South Carolina, you can't feed those people because they will breed.

You see, starvation is a form of birth control. :banghead:

[How_Sad_We_R_2Day]

79. Idiocracy

Have you seen the movie Idiocracy....great play on human evolution...the dumb asses bread while the smart delay child birth waiting for the right time and die out...in so much the stupid inherit the earth......all unemployed are not stupid, many have degrees....hell I know numerous engineers who are out of work......what exactly are you trying to say here??? Lets see the fry chefs at McDonalds still have jobs.....go figure McDonalds are hiring but the largest engineering firms in the nation are closing shop....we can only open up so many plants in China....bring our money back

[liberation]

71. Basically this is what the GOP and the Blue Dogs (aren't they the same really?) are saying:

If the government helps those who need it the most, the poor, they won't "better" themselves (whatever that means). Ironically, the same people who advocate that also propose ferociously that if we don't help those who need it the least, the extremely wealthy, by showering them with loads of cash... then they won't have any incentive to work.


Leave it to conservatives, to not only come up with such a f*cked up narrative... but to actually base all their recent actions on that very same utterly dishonest mantra.

[How_Sad_We_R_2Day]

78. For Real The Government is Subsidizing Laziness???

For REAL?????????? Apparently you have a job and you don't have a spouse whose lost one. My husband has been actively searching for a job for quite some time while more and more people in our community continue to get laid off......he is not lazy and even though he has a degree is business managment he has even tried to get jobs at the local pizza joints, his philosophy being okay I did this when I was 16 maybe I can do it again to help make ends meet....guess what the pizza joints aren't hiring either.....they are shutting down businesses every time we turn around here....mayhap things are magically delicious in your neck off the woods..do you think we are content with getting the meager enemployment checks in comparison to his previous income....of course he would rather be employed....I don't see how helping those who have been effected by this recession is encouraging laziness...it is keeping people off food stamps and out of shelters.....thank god I have a job, but I have been working hard my whole life just like my husband and the reality is I could lose my job tomorrow, every couple of months they skim back at the corporate office, we are running on a bare bones staff, making all those who are still there work even harder...how is helping my family be extending unemployment benefits subsidizing laziness????.....I work harder to keep my job and my husband works harder to try to replace the one he lost....Would you be happy sitting at home making 10 cents on the dollar, my husband works harder now trying to find a job then he did when this economy still employed him....

[Zynx]

14. They are currently at 99-weeks, I believe, which is far and away the longest ever.

[Techn0Girl]

20. All extensions EXPIRE in one month....

Everything reverts back to 26 weeks in the last week of February.

Remember there is a difference between extending the TIME for total benefits and having extended benefits (extensions) of any kind at all.

In about a month the only benefits available will be the 26 weeks standard.

Also remember that the total number of unemployed is actually HIGHER now than it was back in the worst of '09.

[tonysam]

29. Not true. Not true. Please don't spread misinformation.

Please, please, please don't do this. You are WRONG, completely and totally wrong.

[Earth_First]

34. Care to explain...

I'm not doubting you, but I am calling out your ability to present your argument...

[Techn0Girl]

38. All extensions expire in one month is true.

All federal unemployment subsidies expire in one month. That is what the article was about.

If you have any information to the contrary, please link to it.
Thanks.

[Tiberius]

66. boy this is confusing.

Hi all. I've been unemployed since January 16, 2009... I got extended in May (IIRC), and then in December, and when I called them back on January 16 (one year "re-file"), I was told my benefits would run out in late February.

This is in Massachusetts... so, Techn0Girl may be correct. I think the 99 weeks only applies if you were laid off in, say January 2008. They explained to me on the phone that if there is no further legislative action I will be SOL in late Feb...

[tonysam]

30. Delete

n/t

[tonysam]

31. Correct, and they need to be extended more as unemployment isn't going down one damned bit.

n/t

[fadedrose]

16. These people are looking for jobs -applying for jobs that many are seeking

Who will feed them and pay their rent? They need a phone to be able to be called to a job interview, a car to get there - car insurance..

Politicians are like cockroaches...

[SlingBlade]

19. Gee, Imagine That

[bahrbearian]

23. I've been denied my Fed extenstion, this sucks

I've had by beneifits cut and lost my extension because I worked 2 months last spring.

[Techn0Girl]

44. It's a stupid and wasteful system.

I have had to turn down temp jobs because here in CA because if I also work more than a certain amount I lose my unemployment benefits. I WANT to work! But I was faced with the decision of working for 6 weeks and losing all 40+ weeks of benefits that are keeping me alive - or continuing with unemployment.

It's a stupid and wasteful system.

[bahrbearian]

45. The sooner they take away our benefits the sooner they don't have to count us.

[DesertDiamond]

77. ??? I know someone else who was denied because he *hadn't* worked last year

This is all so confusing I have no idea of what to expect. I just keep praying that everyone will be protected.

[Iowa]

24. Today's Democratic party is a party of war and corporate welfare...

Traditional Democratic values have been jettisoned. We either get behind a third party in large numbers, or it's over.

[Little Star]

25. Well, maybe......

Well, maybe Obama will show some leadership and take the senate to task.

Main Street is so screwed!

[Faux pas]

28. this is what I don't get, if we're all dead or broke who's going

be the consumers?

[Techn0Girl]

36. The idea is not to kill us ....

But it IS to bankrupt us - so we continue to work at peasant wages for the benefit of the wealthy.

The U.S. does not need consumers.
All the U.S. needs is continued war.
War is the biggest consumer of all and it continually requires new supplies to keep it going.

Remember G.E. doesn't only make toasters - it it the one of the nations biggest war supplies manufacturers (including nukes). Mattel didn't just make toys - they made the M-16 rifle as well.

All WE are really needed for is to shut up and go to work.

[Faux pas]

61. Ok, now I get it. The united corporate states of amerika is an ass,

and we are dolts and suckers.

[How_Sad_We_R_2Day]

80. Applause

GREAT POINT...good thing we can still afford to pay our internet bill....oh shit thats on extension too, I wonder what tier we're on now for that...

[Faux pas]

81. LOL the interwebs and satellite tv will be the last things I

give up!

[Purveyor]

32. It could be a long, hot summer standing in those soup lines, indeed! eom

[uberblonde]

33. That doesn't mean they won't pass them.

In fact, it looks likely that they will:

http://washingtonindependent.com/74604/senate-dems-urge-10-month-extension-of-unemployment-benefits

[Techn0Girl]

37. No it doesn't mean that they won't pass them....

But the article you referenced is a bit older than what just happened today.

Some Senate Dems did indeed call for increasing the time limit on extensions. But what happened today is that the Senate rejected that and instead proposed a jobs bill that included NO extended benefits at all.

This is a clear message as to the way things are likely to proceed.

Remember waiting for the Senate and House to fix things with Health Care reform as the bill got progressively worse and worse ? Same thing happening here.

[JDPriestly]

40. Does anyone else remember the L.A. riots?

The Rodney King affair set it off, but the economic distress during the Bush I regime was the underlying cause.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots

I remember them well. I watched the fires start from the third story of a building on the eastern side of downtown L.A.

I had young children in school at the time, and I was terrified.

I do not want to see that happen again, especially not during a Democratic administration.

But, I know so many, many people who cannot get work of any kind. I'm talking about very well educated, in some cases bilingual people with excellent skills. They cannot get jobs.

I also know young people fresh out of school -- who cannot get jobs.

And I know people who have lost their businesses and who are losing their homes.

When people get a chance to finally see the President, they smile and are happy for a little while. So the President doesn't realize how much people are hurting -- how deeply the country is suffering.

It is only going to get worse. The division between those who are doing well and those who are not doing much of anything is widening. We have not come close to hitting bottom yet.

I remember the L.A. riots and how the poor people looted and burned. Obama probably doesn't remember that at all. Do you?

[closeupready]

43. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I recall GHWB signing $10B loan guarantees for Israel DAYS after

refusing to extend unemployment benefits during a recession where I was actually out of a job (not for long, but I didn't know that at the time). Pissed me off so bad. :mad: Will never forget that as long as I live. That happened roughly about the same time, right?

[JDPriestly]

54. I don't know. Might have happened about the same time.

I do remember that GHWB was not well liked and did a lousy job as president.

[flyarm]

57. I certainly remember..and i as well had a young child, and was terrified!

and it was caused by suppression of the people and poverty with no jobs..Rodney was just the excuse for it..but it was like a hot pot ready to boil over for a long time..it was the trickle down that never came!
The economy was bad..but only bad for the middle class and the lower middle class- to poor and those living in poverty levels with no end in sight.

I have often warned people..it could happen where you live..if you suppress good people with designs to keep them in poverty with no chance to work and feed their families!

Most people don't want to hear it!

I blame and blamed that riot on GHWB..i believe he helped create that Riot ..he knew he was behind in the polls for re-election and he helped manufacture that riot!

[Oerdin]

41. Horrible.

Absolutely horrible but maybe what this country needs is to see how out of touch and evil the political establishment has become. Trillions for bankers but not a penny for regular folks out of work.

[Hoopla Phil]

47. I cannot find anywhere in the article that mentions. . .

"In 30 days all States unemployment benefits will revert back to 26 weeks". Can you please point me to it?

[Techn0Girl]

48. No Problemo ....

Al State extended benefits were set to expire Dec 29th when an emergency bill was passed that extended them until Feb 28th (dates may be off by 1 or 2 days - no more) . After Feb 28th all Federal extended benefits to the States will expire.

This has been news since early October here are some relevant links but you can find out for yourself just by googling "unemployment extension".

http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2010/01/869-ui-extension.html


http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977994593&grpId=3659174697241980&nav=Groupspace

http://senatus.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/democrats-unveil-unemployment-extension-bill-republicans-object-to-passage/

http://senatus.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/democrats-unveil-unemployment-extension-bill-republicans-object-to-passage/

[Hoopla Phil]

52. Thanks n/t

[lark]

50. How do I feel?

I'm totally pissed!!! I won't give one God damn dime to the DSCC, DLC or any of those other groups since Dems elected to the Senate obviously are not real Democrats, just corporatists with anohter name. I used to give regularly and freely, but since Obama and the Senate have turned their backs on regular folks, the well has run dry. My discretionary money now goes to my daughter in college and my unemployed 24 year old son. I will still give to individuals (Alan Grayson!) and to ad campaigns that I believe in, but any group that supports Lieberman, is not a group I will support in any shape, form or fashion.

[Orangepeel]

51. tax breaks for "small businesses that hire new employees" is what a jobs bill should be

I'd like to help families remain insured, fed and in their homes, but I can see why that isn't necessarily part of a jobs bill (which should help people get and keep jobs, which is what unemployed people want).

[flyarm]

58. heck most of the small businesses where I live ( FLA) have gone out of business ...

tax breaks would have helped before they all closed up shop!

The number of empty storefront small businesses is the worst I have ever seen in my lifetime! The empty far out weighs the businesses still operating!

[Jefferson23]

53. Lovely, just lovely, that's how I feel about this.

[superconnected]

55. Mean while doubling H1 and L1 visas.

[OhioChick]

59. Yeah...there's no one here that can do the work.

:sarcasm:

[Skittles]

60. but OHIOCHICK

we have to look OVERSEAS to find "TALENT" - you know, the kind of TALENT that means you have a MASTERS DEREE in IT and DON'T KNOW WHAT A USER CODE MEANS

[femrap]

56. This

'democratic' Senate makes me sick.

I just had a deja vu typing this.

Guess I've typed this before.

They're going to grind us up and spit us out.

Think I'll make a biz making pitchfork earrings....cute, huh?

[1776Forever]

63. Just another reason to ask - "Is it time for a new party?" - Seems the answer is YES!

Anyone have any ideas?

[GinaMaria]

67. Well surprise, surprise, surprise

not

[GinaMaria]

68. unemployment benefits and food stamps

are the best bang for your buck in terms of stimulating an economy. Ever feel like we just getting in deeper and deeper? When do we stop digging?

[change_notfinetuning]

69. And yet, unemployment compensation is subject to federal income tax. It's a

carryover from Reagan who had it put in the tax code, but apparently Obamanomics has no problem with it. That is a disgrace. No one is making it on the pittance it pays. People are only getting further behind, especially with there being nearly seven times as many unemployed persons for every available job. This should have been overturned in 2009, but only a small amount was declared exempt. Fine tuning you can believe in.

[butterfly77]

70. Chamber of Commerce..

still begging for welfare...How much more do they want? They hate the government so why do they want government money?

[inna]

73. Wow. KR

How they get away with this shit is beyond me.

:grr:

:argh:

[chitown606]

74. Mad as hell

As a person that can not find a job I need my benefit. I refuse to allow my family to be homeless.

[varelse]

75. Does it even matter anymore?

I wish I could say I felt betrayed, but I never expected much to change - all we had was some hope, and my share of that died early last year. :shrug:

[DesertDiamond]

76. WTF??? I am trying to rent out a10 x 10 bedroom in my house...

The only applicants are single parents with at least one child in tow -- except for the occasional ENTIRE FAMILY that wants to squeeze into that tiny space! I was not going for it at first but I am now realizing how many people out there just can't afford to live!! Apparently single people are just moving in with their parents or sleeping on someone's sofa.

NOW THEY ARE NOT EVEN GOING TO EXTEND OUR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS????

[TeeYiYi]

83. Anything new on this subject?...

... I heard the senate might be considering a separate benefits extension bill. If that's true, it would need to be passed in the next couple of weeks.

Anyone here at DU with knowledge of the senate's plans for unemployment benefits in 2010?...

TYY :kick:

[TeeYiYi]

84. I found this from today...

"Senate Democrats To Introduce Jobs Bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said Democrats next week will unveil the first of at least two bills aimed at spurring job creation. Final decisions haven't been made on what to include in the bill, but it is likely to contain an extension of unemployment benefits and health benefits for the recently unemployed, which expire Feb. 28."

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/201001291458DOWJONESDJONLINE000446_FORTUNE5.htm

TYY

[Dappleganger]

86. thanks for the updates and the kicking this.

We've missed the insurance extension ourselves (ended end of December) and had to take out a piss-poor medical plan but it's better than nothing or $1700/month. I hope people get the help they need with this new bill.

[pipoman]

87. We don't need any of that shit

what we need is more immigrants coming in on work visas (huge increase coming down the pipe), and a new 'free trade agreement' with, say, the Pacific Rim...after all what is good for Cambodia is good for Detroit, right??

[defendandprotect]

88. Wow -- what a betrayal of American labor -- !!! Absolutely disgusting . . .!!!

We need change, folks --!!

And, obviously, doing what we've been doing isn't going to get it for us!!!

What's Plan B?

[amandabeech]

89. This is just beyond disgusting.

I did not phone bank for this and my friends did not knock on doors for this.

Eventually, people will have nothing to lose.

I don't want it to get to that.